By R.L. Bynum
Two individual national champions — wrestler Austin O’Connor and diver Aranza Vazquez — earned Athlete of the Year honors at the Rammy Awards on Monday night at Memorial Hall.
The awards program recognizes excellence in Carolina athletics over the previous year. Women’s basketball center Malu Tshitenge of women’s basketball and football defensive lineman Kaimon Rucker were the hosts for the event, which was back at Memorial Hall for the first time since 2019.
O’Connor, who also won Male Best Individual Performance, went 23–0 and won the ACC and NCAA titles at 157 pounds and ACC Wrestler of the Year. He won the title at 149 pounds in 2021. Vazquez won the women’s Athlete of the Year after winning NCAA titles at one meter and three meters to give her five career national championships. Vazquez also won Best Championship Performance.
Tennis player Fiona Crowley earned that female Best Individual Performance after going 17–0 in the fall and winning the ITA indoor title and the fall national championship.
Winning the respective Breakout Athletes of the Year honors were Ethan Strand, who won the 3,000-meter title at the 2023 ACC indoor track and field meet, and gymnast Lalil Dekanoidze, who earned All-America honors on bars and was the EAGL co-specialist of the year.
Freshman golfer David Ford, who finished fifth in the NCAA championship, and redshirt freshman soccer forward Ally Sentnor, who was second on the team in goals and points and was first-team All-ACC, earned Outstanding Newcomer honors.
Sharing the Best Team award were the 2022 women’s lacrosse and 2022 field hockey teams, who both were undefeated national champions.
Men’s basketball center Armando Bacot won Best Record Breaking Performance after setting multiple school records.
Coach Courtney Banghart’s women’s basketball team got Best Upset for putting together three, all in consecutive home games: No. 4 Notre Dame 60–50, No. 11 N.C. State 56–47 and No. 13 Duke 61–56.
Drake Maye also shared a Rammy with wide receiver Antoine Green for Best Play for a game-winning touchdown pass in the victory at Duke.
Gymnast Hallie Thompson and men’s lacrosse player Logan McGovern received the John Lotz Award, which goes to an athlete who has demonstrated a passion to succeed under adverse conditions. Thompson has overcome two ACL tears and McGovern has cystic fibrosis.
The Diversity and Inclusion Award went to the athlete-led group SAFE: Student-Athletes for Equity. It works to provide an inclusive environment and safe space for athletes from all background and levels of understanding to motivate them to come together and create social change.
The Mildred McCaskill award, for athletes who demonstrate excellence in athletics, academics and service to the community, went to baseball pitcher Nik Pry and women’s soccer forward Aleigh Gambone.
Top Six for Service Awards went to the baseball team, Alex Breschi (men’s lacrosse), Reza Merchant (men’s fencing), Sophie Silverstein (gymnastics), Dorrit Eisenbeis and Katie Dixon (field hockey), and Kaimon Rucker and Christopher Holliday (football).
Earning Best Dressed honors were football running back player Elijah Green and Ella Webb, a foil on the fencing team.
Here are all the winners and nominees, including a video for each that shows all of the nominees.
Athlete of the Year
Male
Winner:
Wrestling: Austin O’Connor, the 157-pound national champion, was ACC wrestler of the year and was a finalist for the top national award, going 23–0.
Other nominees:
Diving: Anton Downs-Jenkins finished fourth in the one-meter springboard at the NCAA indoor
championships to earn his seventh All-American honor and was named first-team All-American.
Football: Drake Maye finished second in the nation in total offense and tied for third with 45 total touchdowns. He was ACC player of the year, ACC offensive player of the year, a freshman All-American and the NCAA freshman of the year.
Cross country/track: Parker Wolfe finished ninth in the NCAA meet — the best by a Tar Heel since 1956 — to earn All-America honors for a second consecutive year, and he was the ACC men’s cross country runner of the year. He earned All-America honors with a fifth-place finish in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA indoor meet.
Basketball: Armando Bacot set career school records, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds while earning All-ACC honors.
Female
Winner:
Diving: Aranza Vazquez won the national titles in the one- and three-meter events to become the first UNC diver to win a national title.
Other nominees:
Tennis: Fiona Crawley won both major fall national championships.
Basketball: Deja Kelly led UNC in scoring, assists and minutes in earning All-ACC honors.
Soccer: Avery Patterson had points in 15 matches and led UNC in goals and points, tied for the team lead in assists and scored twice in the national championship game.
Best Breakthrough Athlete
Male
Winner:
Track: Ethan Strand won the 3,000-meter title at the 2023 ACC indoor meet.
Other nominees:
Baseball: Tomas Frick increased his batting average by nearly 50 points and already has career-highs this season in home runs and RBI.
Football: Power Echols started all 14 games, earning honorable mention All-ACC honors with double-digit tackles in four games.
Lacrosse: Logan McGovern leads UNC in goals, assists and points as a transfer this season.
Female
Winner:
Gymnastics: Lali Dekanoidze earned All-America honors on bars and was the EAGL co-specialist of the year.
Other nominees:
Softball: Abby Settlemyre is batting over .400 in ACC play and the senior has career-highs in hits, home runs and RBI.
Tennis: Carson Tanguilig is ranked in the top 10 in the country in singles and doubles and clinched the ITA indoor title.
Cross country: Kelsey Harrington finished 17th in the NCAA meet.
Outstanding Newcomer
Male
Winner:
Golf: David Ford finished fifth in the NCAA championship, carded the fourth-lowest stroke average in program history and the second-lowest for a freshman, earning ACC freshman of the year, freshman All-America, All-ACC and third-team All-America honors.
Other nominees:
Wrestling: Lachlan McNeil went 27–9 at 141 pounds, finished third in the ACC championship and earned All-America honors in his redshirt freshman season.
Swimming: Louis Dramm, a freshman, earned honorable-mention All-America honors in the 400 individual medley at the NCAA championships and broke the school record in the 200 individual medley at the NCAA meet.
Soccer: Sam Williams started 14 games, made the All-ACC freshman team and was one of the top four scorers on the UNC team.
Tennis: Will Jansen joined UNC for the spring semester and had an immediate impact at No. 3 singles and No. 3 doubles.
Female
Winner:
Soccer: Ally Sentnor, a redshirt freshman, finished second on the team in goals and points and was first-team All-ACC.
Other nominees:
Volleyball: Maddy May, a freshman libero, played in all 29 matches, was one of two players to play every set, and led the team in digs, was second in aces and third in assists.
Lacrosse: Brooklyn Walker-Welch earned freshman All-ACC and honorable mention All-American honors. She started all 22 games and was a key defender.
Fencing: Sophia Kovacs was a top competitor at sabre, had a team-high 45 wins, finishing fourth at the ACC championships, ninth at the NCAA championships to earned All-American honors
Tennis: Reese Brantmeier, a freshman, plays in one of the top three spots for the No. 1 Tar Heels, ranked in the top 20 in singles and doubles.
Field hockey: Ryleigh Heck and Ashley Sessa, both freshmen, started all 21 games for the NCAA champions, finishing second and third in scoring, with Heck earning ACC freshman-of-the-year honors.
Best Individual Performance
Male
Winner:
Wrestling: Austin O’Connor went 23–0 with an ACC and NCAA title.
Other nominees:
Track: Jesse Hunt won the indoor mile at the 2023 ACC championship.
Golf: Ryan Burnett finished in a four-way tie for first in stroke play at the 2022 NCAA championships.
Tennis: Brian Cernoch and Ryan Seggerman made the doubles championship match at the ITA indoor championships.
Female
Winner:
Tennis: Fiona Crowley went 17–0 in the fall, winning the ITA indoor title and the fall national championship.
Other nominees:
Diving: Aranza Vazquez earned national diver of the year honors and two NCAA titles.
Track: Taryn Parks won her second consecutive ACC indoor mile title.
Track and field: Madison Wiltrout won the javelin at the 2022 ACC track championships with a school-record throw, also breaking the ACC meet record.
Swimming: Grace Countie won two first-team and five second-team All-America honors in relay and individual wins.
Best Championship Performance
Winner:
Women’s diving: Aranza Vazquez won two national championships.
Other nominees:
Wrestling: Austin O’Connor wins second NCAA title.
Women’s lacrosse: Sam Geiersbach earned MVP honors as UNC won the 2022 NCAA title.
Men’s golf: Austin Greaser won a regional NCAA title.
Field hockey: Midfielder Meredith Sholder earned MVP honors as Carolina won the national title.
Best Play
Winner:
Football: Drake Maye’s game-winning touchdown pass to Antoine Green at Duke.
Other nominees:
Softball: Center fielder Bri Stubbs throws out a baserunner at the plate against South Carolina.
Baseball: Spectacular catches by outfielder Casey Cook, Vance Honeycutt and Patrick Alvarez that each made the “SportsCenter” Top 10 Plays segment.
Field hockey: Romea Riccardo and Paityn Wirth assist on Erin Matson’s game-winning goal in the national championship game.
Men’s lacrosse: Ty English and Griffin Gallagher complete a hidden-ball trick, with English firing in a goal against High Point.
Best Upset
Winner:
Women’s basketball: UNC beat No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 11 N.C. State and No. 13 Duke in consecutive home games.
Other nominees:
Softball: Pitcher Lillie Backes tossed a three-hit shutout in a 4–0 win over Virginia Tech
Women’s swimming and diving: Ranked No. 17 entering the NCAA meet, UNC — with 11 All-America performances and four top-eight finishes — finished in the top eight for the first time in two decades.
Women’s soccer: UNC beat top seed and reigning national champion Florida State 3–2 in a national semifinal.
Women’s cross country: UNC finished a program-record fifth in the NCAA meet and the first top-10 finish since 2004.
Best Record-Breaking Performance
Winner:
Men’s basketball: Armando Bacot broke career records for double-doubles and rebounds in the home victory over N.C. State.
Other nominees:
Football: Drake Maye set single-season school records for passing yards, completions and attempts while tying the record for touchdown passes.
Men’s track: Ethan Strand set UNC and ACC championship records in winning the ACC 3,000-meter indoor title.
Women’s golf: Krista Junkkari’s 73.0 stroke average was the lowest, and Kayla Smith 73.05 was the second-lowest, single-season average in program history.
Outstanding Team
Winner (tie):
Women’s lacrosse: UNC went 22–0 and won the national championship, going 9–0 against top-10 teams.
Field hockey: UNC went 21–0 for the program’s fifth unbeaten season and 10th national title.
Other nominees:
Women’s lacrosse: UNC went 22–0 and won the national championship, going 9–0 against top-10 teams.
Men’s golf: The Tar Heels won three team titles, and four Tar Heels won tournaments individually and won back-to-back top-five NCAA finishes for the first time in program history.
Women’s tennis: Carolina won its fourth consecutive ITA indoor championship.
Football: UNC won the ACC Coastal Division title and went 6–0 on the road.
Women’s soccer: The Tar Heels won their 25th ACC regular-season title and advanced to the national championship game.
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications
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